Prior Cosmetic Techniques and Their Disadvantages
Prior art techniques for modifying the appearance of skin include natural tanning, artificial tanning, and the deliberate application of cosmetics. Each of these prior art techniques has limitations.
Typically, the applications of cosmetic substances to skin are largely manual, for example through the use of brushes, application tubes, pencils, pads, and fingers. The application methods make prior art cosmetics imprecise, labor intensive, expensive, and sometimes harmful, when compared to the computerized techniques of the present invention.
Most prior art cosmetic approaches are based on the application of opaque substances. As explained in the cross-referenced application U.S. Ser. No. 11/503,806, there is a need for the precise computer-controlled application of reflectance modifying agents (RMAs), such as transparent dyes, to provide a more effective modification of appearance.
In this specification, the terms “reflectance modifying agent” or “RMA” refer to any compound useful for altering the reflectance of another material, and are explained in further detail below. Some examples of RMA are inks, dyes, pigments, bleaching agents, chemically altering agents, and other substances that can alter the reflectance of human skin and other features. The terms “dye” and “transparent dyes” are used for brevity in this specification to represent any RMA.
Manual cosmetic applications are imprecise compared to computer-controlled techniques, and this imprecision may make them less effective. For example, the heavy application of a foundation base for makeup may cause an unattractive, caked-on appearance. Manual techniques also typically take a long time to employ, as can be seen in any morning commute on a highway, where people frantically take advantage of stops to finish applying their makeup. In addition, manually applied makeup is not cheap, and when the help of professionals such as beauticians is required, is even more expensive. Moreover, often the materials applied to the skin in manual techniques are themselves potentially harmful. For example, a foundation base for makeup may cause skin to dry out and may inhibit the skin's breathing. Sunlight or artificial light used for tanning may cause cancer.
Therefore, there is a need for the precise application of reflectance modifying agents (RMAs) to provide a more effective, more automated, faster, less expensive, and less dangerous modification of the appearance of skin. The cross-referenced patent application cited above presents a system and method for this need.
One problem that an automated system and method of applying RMAs must solve is the design of an applicator with an efficient head. In an embodiment, a useful applicator would be small enough to be held in the hand, would be easy to clean, and would be inexpensive to produce. In addition, it would maintain the scanner and RMA application system at an appropriate distance from the surface to be treated, to ensure accurate scanning and deposition. If the scanner is located too far from or too close to the surface, for example, the results of scanning may not be not be accurate enough to provide a basis for pixel-level cosmetic enhancements. In the same way, a printer head that is not maintained at a proper distance from the surface, for example, will not be able to apply the RMAs with pixel-level precision.
An additional challenge in designing an automated RMA system is preventing outside light from entering around the base of the applicator and scanner and distorting the accuracy of the scanning.
Moreover, the design of the applicator must limit smudging of the RMAs on the surface treated, which may result from contact with hardware elements of the scanner or inkjet printer head. If the rim of an inkjet printer head used for applying RMAs drags across the skin during deposition, for example, it may smudge the effect of the RMAs on the skin. This is especially a problem when applications involve making multiple passes over the surface, because the freshly deposited RMAs may be easily smudged by too much contact with hard surfaces. Therefore, there is also a need for an RMA applicator head designed so that the applicator is small enough to be handheld, easy to clean, and inexpensive, and that maintains a proper distance between the scanner and RMA printer head and the surface to be treated, while reducing the influence of outside light during scanning and limiting smudging during deposition.
An important element of a cosmetic enhancement system is the ability to separate a scanned image of an area of skin or other human feature into two components, color and surface texture. Color refers to an area's light value, such as lightness and darkness, as well as hue, such as pinkness or yellowness. Surface texture refers to the area's topography, such as the contours of pores, wrinkles, and bumps, both large and small. For example, the system's software uses strategies to accentuate, alter, or camouflage color effects and different strategies for surface texture effects, to make a woman look both young and real.